I am a topologist by temperament and training, which means I have trouble telling the difference between a donut and a coffee cup, or between a five-dollar bill and a ten-dollar bill. I managed to earn a PhD in 1993, after which I had faculty positions at the University of California, the University of Nevada, the United States Naval Academy, and New Mexico State University. Since 2004, I have been part of several mathematics education projects, in particular Mathematically Connected Communities (MC2) and Math Snacks. Being part of these projects, I have been fortunate to spend many hours doing mathematics with teachers and students in grades 3 through 8. I believe that everyone makes sense of mathematics in their own way, and that mathematics is a human activity where communication is as important as individual thinking. I have a dream that one day students will be as excited about learning trigonometry as they are about getting a driver's license. I also have a dream to see the stars someday in Antarctica.